Precision agriculture offers to improve crop productivity and farm profitability through improved management of farm inputs, leading to better environmental quality. In precision agriculture, resources such as water, fertilizer and herbicides are only applied to those parts of the field that need them.
A key component of precision agriculture is data collection to determine the current state of the various parts of the field. At present, there are two primary approaches to data collection for precision agriculture: remote sensing and manual data collection. Remote sensing involves collecting information without entering the field. This typically involves using cameras in satellites or aircraft to collect images of the field. Satellite and aerial remote sensing are severely limited by cloud cover and remote sensing from a manned aerial device (either flown by a pilot or radio-controlled by a professional operator) is costly and difficult to plan against weather conditions. Further, soil moisture, crop height, and pest infestations cannot be measured remotely in a vegetated crop. Manual methods involve the collection of data by humans who either gather the data by walking through the field, or guide a vehicle equipped with a sensor through the field. Manual data collection process can be tedious, time-consuming, and expensive.